What’s A Young Millennial?
….asked a presumably Very Young Person. Because the space felt safe, because I had had a difficult day and writing felt soothing and because it was too early for bed, too late for a call, I answered. Here it is unedited (well, not counting the two times I cheated and edited my Whatsapp message). If you don’t know me, can you tell what generation I am? Gen Z, Millennial, Baby Boomer or ‘Silent’ Generation?
Prepare for a long thesis. The uninterested, please ignore this message.
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The term millennial was coined to describe people who came of age in the new millennium (or Y2K as it was called then). That would have been people born after 1975 because they’d be in their early 20s in the year 2000.
But with the rise of the internet, mobile telephony, satellite TV, people suddenly had acccess to media and practices of other cultures. Till then in India, you only came of age in your 20s because that’s when you would get to do adult things like getting a job, getting married etc. But suddenly, we were watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and MTV, seeing the Gulf War coverage live via CNN, chatting with strangers. The idea of coming of age began to change.
It was getting hard to distinguish social behaviour patterns, generation changes etc. So they revised the definition of millennial to anyone born after 1985. And they relegated everyone before them to the previous generation called Generation X.
The marketers jumped in on it and seggregated the group of people who had their own income and the ones who were dependent on (usually) parental approval. People born after 1985 were still in school or college whereas the pre-1985 had just started working but were earning much more than previous generations had because they were part of new industries like dotcoms and BPOs.
So they created a micro-generation called Xennials. This is people born between 1975 and 1985. Were not born or old enough to experience Emergency, the drugs/AIDS epidemic of the 80s. But were already making money and needing relationship structures and social practices that were different from people 4-5 years older than them. This generation were kids at a time of single channel Doordarshan and when not everyone had a telephone and became teenagers in a world that had 24×7 channels and the internet.
And eventually the Millennials got older and came into positions of power. So were able to push back against the old guard which kept saying that Millennials were ruining everything (certain industries, arranged marriage, patriarchy, white supremacy, toxic workplaces). Very similar to what happened to Xennials, suddenly there were Millennials who saw things rise (such as social media) and were old enough to remember the times before that. And there were Millennials who born in the 90s but were too young to remember a world that was that different. So they became young millennials who would not have known Orkut or Yahoo! Messenger but experienced Snapchat, TikTok as well as MMS scandals in schools, body-shaming and eating disorders, mental illness all before the age of 15.
People have always progressed with times and there have always been defining events like wars and pandemics. But since the 70s, technology became the factor in these world events and has accelerated these. So the generation definitions are getting narrower.
Edit: The children of Gen X (who were the children of Baby Boomers and ended with births in 1974) are called Gen Z. Gen Z is now in their 20s, with careers, marriages etc. The babies right now (who would be kids of older Millennials) are Gen alpha. Millennials were defined by world changes due to gloal connectivity technology. Gen Z was defined by its concern for what these developments did to the environment (global warming but also mental health, community bonding). We hope Gen Alpha lives long enough to complain about how we ruined the world for them and to see the next generation find something new to challenge.
Edit 2: For a reference, MeToo rose in 2018 because of younger millennials. Older millennials were the first women to have careers and Gen X were the first women to have jobs. Each generation has pushed forward in some way but that looks like not enough to the next one (which is fine because their role is to push us even further).
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Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
It has been a whole year and some since I decided to explore reading as a communal activity. And now I think I am seeing the rewards. I like myself more now because I have realised the role I play in big groups, the kind of reactions it brings up in people and what this tells me about them. It is helping me discern the gaslighting for the terror that powers it, the aggression for the plaintive fear it masks. It is also bringing me joy when I chance upon a rare flash of curiosity, that wonderful thing in human beings that makes us want to reach beyond barriers of age and gender and culture. It brings down walls. All because someone wanted to know what lay beyond.
I am writing more, too. Unfettered emails with a chosen few. But occasional letting loose moments of this kind too. I will probably take the above down and it is really too long for a phone Whatsapp screen. And the few who are interested will find this link. If they don’t, no loss. My words are really not that significant in the grand scheme of things. This is a peaceful thought to close on.
Edit for blogpost: (because of course, I had to): This group is discussing one of my beloved childhood read books. Kid me is so thrilled to finally meet other people who *gasp* like reading! And now me is being constantly surprised by what I feel about how others feel. It’s a slow book? Yes, it would be that way in 2026. It was written in the 1800s. It is of interest to adults? Maybe, I read it as a child and my little brain wasn’t big enough to hold some of these ideas. And most of all – books endure.
Edit 2 for blogpost: (I add a lot of P.S.s in my letters): I was charmed by the Very Young Person choosing to mask their identity in the same way I have for years. And deftly sidestep questions (although the questioner was uncharacteristically polite and sensitive too, adding that they did not have to answer if they didn’t want to). I was mildly embarassed when I tried to explain the TED talk joke at the end of my message and they replied with a polite “I know, actually.” And most of all, I was heart-warmed and then tickled when they chose to share their age with me because that was exactly when I embarked on the path that brought me all the love that this blog and its universe have showered on me.
Edit FINAL (I promise): These are my Goodreads and my Fable links, if you’re a reader and would like to connect there. Or you can always follow my musings about what I read here.